| Scourge of Heaven | ||
| Date Started: July 2, 2024 Date Finished: Ongoing Next Role-Play: Timeline: June 9, 1620 Setting:
Characters Involved:
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| Participants | ||
| User:HoloArc • User:Duck4war • User:Isaacmax2003 | ||
Crossed Roads[]
"That's one more off the list!" Cheered the pirate, followed by a rather mellow 'wooo' of the captured marine crew as their old ship was burning in the background, sinking into the depths. The hull was fractured and riddled with holes, the mast causing a towering pillar of smoke. Leaning back in a reclining chair with a sunhat over her eyes, she can hear every footstep on the deck. Anyone that approaches and whoever leaves were known, and she had begun to be able to tell who was who simply based on the rhythm of their walk and breathing.
The sound of padded feet coming close made Lilith perk up. "Anything I can do for you, Lisa?" she asked the approaching fox mink, who halted in her steps. It probably felt wrong for the marine to be taking orders from a pirate, but what choice did she have at this point?
"Undertaker, ma'am... We are getting closer to your destination now." 'Lisa' told Lilith. "T-There should be very little resistance for you when you land."
"You mean when we land, right, Lisa?" Lilith asked, tipping the hat back so she could look at the gray fox mink. "We still have a contract to uphold. Both of us." She spoke, her face soft and kind but with eyes that refused to share the sentiment as she cocked an eyebrow.
"O-of course... Pardon me, please."
"You are forgiven, lil' lady."
A third voice entered the picture as the lookout shouted: "LAND HO!" At this, the pirate simply tilted her head to the side to observe the island in the distance. The pink leafs of the ever-blooming cherry blossom trees being impossible to mistake the island for any other, she smiled back at the mink.
"You have done wonders. You and your crew. Bring me to land and we will have the chance to discuss further terms." Lilith told her. Lisa felt anger and indignation over being treated like a mongrel pup to follow her orders. Orders which were in constant shift about what was part of their arrangement or not. But she had no choice.
"Yes ma'am." she replied in as straight a face as she possibly could before barking the orders to the crew.
"One more... One more..." Lilith whispered softly to herself, happy with the circumstances now. Try and catch me now, hag.
Sam was in one of her favorite bases, not because of the amenities or the people, but simply because of the amount of space. The base allowed her to run as much as she wanted for as long as she wanted. That was until she had to focus on the paperwork for the base itself.
“What’s with all these reports about bases being attacked, and why is it headed for us?!” she said, looking at a map and trying to follow the path of the attacks. “If I head them off here, I can catch them before they get here,” she said before leaving to get on a ship that would sail to intercept their attacker.
As the ship made landfall, the marine crew were forced to stand by and watch as Lilith sacked the marine-loyal village, reaping its most valuable contents to her behest and setting the rest on fire. And trailing behind her, tied to her waist through long ropes were now five large coffins. There had been two before landfall, now there was five. And so long as she had these, the marines would not move against her. Not the local, or the ones she arrived with.
Feeling happy with what she was doing, Lilith pranced about the slowly collapsing town, when there was the resonating sound of a den den mushi expelling a substantially loud sound to catch everyone's attention. "Reinforcements? They wouldn't have dared to... Must be happenstance then!" Lilith quipped as she moved towards the shores once again. Her determination was steel and as she moved back, she smirked mirthfully, looking forward to finding out what might be up next for her. And with five hostages on her side, she was confident in what could be done now.
Before the Lilith could sail away, a cannon ball came flying at the mast of her ship, following the trail it came from a marein ship. “Don’t move, surrender, peacefully and we can work out a deal to get you a lease sentence, or I can make you my underleag, how’s that sound?” Sam shouted from her ship: no speaker, no den den mushi, just raw voice. She then motioned to the rest of the Mariens in the ship to keep sailing closer while she jumped off the side of used geppo to go above the ships as to sneak over to the ship Lillith was on and hide in a spot that was out of sight. “What do we have here? A pirate and a ransacked village, 5 coffins... more likely treasure if anything.” She said, observing the situation from the of the ship.
Lilith beheld the sight of the large marine ship approaching the shore, firing at the other ship she had arrived in. Sighing over the complication, hearing the voice resonate through the air, she was left in silence for a few moments as she seemed to be wrapping her head around the idea that she was just being offered. Then it seemed to click.
That was when she started laughing. A loud and heckling laughter that mocked the very essence of any form of peace treaty. "By what delusional metric would I accept that 'deal'? I get nothing, you get everything!" She cackled. "Kohkohkohkoh! Now tell me, hero, what are you going to do about any of this? That you would try to make peace before even coming out tells me only one thing... That you are a coward." she hissed as she controlled three of the five coffins to fly forward, crashing into the ship at blistering speeds, breaking through the hulls in mere moments before continuing the process. Within a minute had the ship taken in a mass quantity of water and began to capsize. With the breaking of the ship, she controlled the coffins to return to her, holding them once more by the chain as she dragged them towards the next marine ship.
Crouching down on Lilith’s ship, Sam activated her spring-like legs and took a deep breath. “Tension level 3, Compression level 1,” she muttered under her breath. Then, in a blur of motion, she shot forward like a bullet, as she went to deliver a powerful ax kick aimed at the pirate’s shoulder.
“Allow me to correct myself,” she said calmly as she looked into Lilith’s eyes, “My name is Samantha, the Jade Rabbit, a member of SPEAR. Don’t break like my other toys,” she added with a smile.
Sidestepping the kick, she pulled one of the coffins to take her prior place. Samantha would quickly learn of the error of making unprepared impact with it. The coffin was unyielding and unbending. Had it not been for the softer surface of the sand, Samantha might have injured her heel. On the coffins was one golden cross and one silver cross on opposite ends. Hitting it square in the middle, the sand bent under the pressure and the ground around could be heard as it was cracking.
"Impressive power." Lilith quipped as one of her coffins rose and spun to strike Samantha in the lowerback, hoping to break it. Meanwhile, Lilith aimed a strong fist against Samantha's face. "Not all too spectacular, though."
Jumping up to dodge the coffin thrown at her, she landed on it and sat airborne. She pulled her legs in, turning them into springs, compressing them tightly. Then, with blinding speed, her feet turned black as she released the springs, aiming at Lilith’s face. “C7 T1 Snake Strike!” she shouted at her legs shot out, "Never said I was finished!"
In a flash of a moment, she had created a new coffin the size of her forearm, and in it she buried her pain, the traditional silver and golden cross manifesting on it as she held it under her arm. The kick came, landing a firm impact against her nosebone and forehead. But as the impact came, Samantha would feel the tingling sensation of resistance trail up her body, bordering on pain. It was like kicking full force into an immovable mountain.
Lilith's left hand came and grappled Sam's ankle, she moved to pull her off the coffin and slam her into the ground and then toss her aside as she took a few steps back. Regardless of the transpiring of events, Sam would come to a haunting sight when she looked back at Lilith: She didn't even have a scratch on her. "If you only have springs to throw at me," she spoke cockily as she grew the size of the "pain coffin" to be seemingly the size of Samantha herself, the two crosses blazing brighter.
"Then I fear you are at a severe disadvantage." She smirked, all while in her head she could only think: That was close...
Sam dug her hands and feet into the ground as she was thrown, looking shocked at Lilith being untouched. Slowly, she cracked a toothy smile that grew into an evil-sounding cackle. "HELL YA!" she said before running in place and then squatting down. "Then you won't mind if we kick it up a notch," she said, pulling her seastone gloves down tightly, leaving a cloud of sand as she moved with speeds similar to soru. She aimed for a flying roundhouse kick at Lilith's side, hoping that Lilith wouldn't move so she could twist her body back and punch her in the face. "How's that for a disadvantage?"
Lilith made quick awareness of the gloves and what they were made of, and intended to stay way the hell out of it. While she could keep up, she decided to not do anything about the matter that that kick came her way. The kick made full impact, and Samantha would be able to feel her bones rattling as, once more, she was met with the immovable object. And indeed, the energy and movement of the strike allowed her to spin to deliver the hit.
The crosses gleamed all the brighter now, and as the hit came, she moved the coffin to be in the way, the silver cross placed on level height with her face. If she continued the strike all the same, the coffin would break, setting free its contents. Following that, the punch would continue into Lilith's face, though with less strength and speed.
Once she felt the coffin give way, her smile grew bigger and she went on to follow through and send Lilith flying. But the force of her own punch caused her to spin rapidly in the air. "I'm Mrs. Punchmiser and Misses Hurt. Hahaha!" she said, laughing. She used Geppo to get close, turning her arm into a spring to power up a secondary punch aimed to shoot at Lilith like a rifle.
"Watch it, 'Ms's Hurt'." Lilith taunted as with a snap of her fingers right before landing as her nose was bleeding, causing the pain that was trapped inside the coffin now returned to the world, but not to Lilith. As Samantha made her approach, she would at first feel a sting in her face and ribcage. That was but the warning. In an instant, the marine would experience the full brunt impact of her hits against her body, her ribs bordering on breaking and her organs receiving such impact that blood threatened to escape Samantha's mouth during a coughing frenzy.
And that wasn't the end of it.
Her skull would rattle as if her face had just taken the brunt of the impact in a headbutt contest with a freight train. Her senses would dull for but a moment, her vision turning blurry as it felt like her brains was being scrambled from an invisible fist to the face. In that moment it would dawn on Samantha what had transpired despite the agonizing pain: These were all the extact spots that she had struck the pirate in when she remained unflinching. That pain, the damage that would have been inflicted, was now Samantha's.
While this transpired, Lilith spun to only so barely avoid the incoming fist, pulling her dagger in turn before she went for a slash against the arm that came a bit too close for her liking before dashing forward, intent on making another cut across the bunny's chest, hoping to cause a bit of bleeding. She had to give credit to the woman that despite the agony she was going through that she was still going for the strike, not relenting in her assault. An impressive specimen. Alas, more impressive ones have fallen in the past, and to Lilith, this one was but another stepping stone towards greatness.
Sam felt the pain but followed through with the punch, feeling the danger scrape across the spring her arm was made of. As it traveled to her chest, Sam’s chest went black to defend against the dagger. She used Geppo to quickly jump back and create some distance between them. Rubbing her jaw, she looked up at Lilith and asked, “What the hell was that?” She then rubbed her side before pulling out a ball and a red seed, throwing it into her other hand. With a puff of red smoke, it transformed into a dagger with a rose on the tip of the handle.
"Fancy trick. Hope you've got more than those if you want to win though." Lilith said confidently as she let the coffins she had carried with her go, letting them simply rest on the sand. Afterward she conjured up three new coffins, each in the size of Samantha's body. "Careful now. I am going for a perfect win." She snickered as she dashed forward, the three coffins flying ahead of her, all of them aiming for a particular part of her body, and in the instance of her avoiding all of them, try to encourage her to come closer to Lilith herself. One went to the left and aimed for her knife hand, another flew to strike her in hte back of the head. The third's trajectory hinted towards wanting to leg-swipe the marine, thus causing her to tumble. In a fortunate world, this would be enogh to strike her with either blunt trauma with the coffins or to make a debilitating cut on the woman.
Sam rushed forward, dagger in hand, as she jumped onto one of the coffins, using it as a platform to jump between each of the coffins in order to close the distance. She threw the dagger at Lilith’s legs, hoping to limit her movement, and as she did so, Sam went to kick Lilith’s chest, electricity covering her foot. “Let’s see that trick again!”
Fool. Was all that Lilith could think as Samantha threw the dagger at her after jumping across her coffins. Catching the hilt of the dagger, she spun it in her hand as she took a few quick steps to the side as Samantha came flying. Coursing Armament Haki through her arm and the blade she held, she did a thrust with the blade to jam it right into the woman's thigh. "How about no?" She simply asked as the three coffins were in high pursuit, ready to pummel her within short.
Turning her leg into springs, she created a large empty space for Lilith to put her arm through as she went to stab Sam's thigh. Then, like a bear trap, she slammed the springs shut to knock the knife out of Lilith's hand. Turning her gut into a spring, she twisted her body around and punched Lilith with an electrified fist, hoping the sea stone would turn off her connection to the coffin long enough to put Lilith in the path of her own attack.
Surprised for a moment over what had transpired, her arm was locked in place by Samantha's "spring-leg". Seeing her contort her body for an empowered punch only made her smile. Rather than trying to duck or try to block the move, she conjured up a coffin with its back turned to the mink. As the fist came she would punch into the seemingly unbreakable coffin's surface, not making so much as a dent or moving as the haki infused hand on the other end kept it steady with little effort.
With one hand clutched in her legs and the other having fully impeded the hit, Samantha was left in an awkward position without freedom of movement. A costly mistake when three large objects are darting at the speed of bullets into one's back. Samantha would shortly after take the full brunt impact of the three coffins. One struck the back of her head, one her neck and the last hit her lower back with power rivaling a cannon. "Never turn your back on an enemy. Even an inanimate one. Is it sinking in yet?" Lilith asked with contempt before rearing her right arm back to punch the woman in the throat with full force with her haki-infused fist. Tilting the blocking coffin in such a way that Sam's hand would be pushed away to the side, leaving her all but dead-open for it to hit. "You are outmatched."
Getting hit by the coffins, Sam fell over with her spring leg still stiff, holding on tight to Lilith. Her other leg slowly moved to get between them, and Sam opened her mouth wide making her teeth black with armerment and bit down around Lilith’s hand hoping to catch her off guard mid punch. With her other hand free, she would to try and garb Lilith to hold her in place. She then shifted her free leg into a thick spring and mumbled, “Thh5 Cee5,” before her leg kicked with the force of a tank, aimed at Lilith’s chest.'
"Big mistake." Lilith said before hoisting her into the air and moved to slam her head first into the groun. By biting down on her hand, Samantha had successfully interrupted the initial attack. But by holding on, she was not at ehr mercy as the coffins followed in hot pursuit as she moved. Without a foothold to anchor her down, it was as easy as pie to move her. While this was transpiring, serving as a distraction while her coffins continued to move back and forth to pummel her, Lilith conjured a little coffin in which she buried the dagger she held. In a swift motion, the coffin flew around and hovered above Lilith's head.
As this was transpiring, the coffins would pummel Samantha from all ends, repeatedly striking her like three jackhammers. As the kick came, Lilith steeled herself for it, amplifying her chest with haki to enhance her durability. Samantha stood before a choice. If she continued her attack, she would soon suffer intense head trauma for the sake of a mighty attack. If she wished to get away, she would need to let her go and jump back instead. It was truly a situation of pick your poison.
While in the air, Sam quickly tucked her feet between them as her legs turned to springs and her feet turned black before igniting them, allowing her to kick with both legs into Lilith’s chest at the highest point of being lifted in order to gain as much distance as possible. After that, she used Geppo to stay airborne. “Okay, that was way too close, but I need a new plan...” she said to herself before using Geppo to fly around the sky, avoiding being a sitting target. Her eyes turned red to prevent being blindsided.
Lilith had the air knocked out of her lungs, making her stumble for a bit, only standing up by sheer will to not appear weak or rattled. The coffin popped open, revealing the dagger for Eve to pluck out while the three that had been hammering Sam's back delivered three even more powerful hits as Samantha lept backward to get some distance. He superior strength would mean that she could escape, but not before being hit with tremendous force.
Regaining her breath after a few seconds, she did not wait any longer. Taking a step forward, one of the three coffins flew up for her to stand on, thus letting her fly up to meet Samantha in the air. As they came face to face, Samantha would see something new coming into view. Lilith stood before her with sunken cheeks and eyes, hair turned grey and black, and her skin a sickly grey-like pink. Externally, she seemed weaker than ever before. In reality, she had simply begun to use the Zoan aspect of her devil fruit. Heightened mental capacity and empowered physical prowess, along with coffin tattoos spread across her torso and arms.
Twirling the knife in her palm for a moment before taking a firm grip on it, Lilith's eyes locked onto Sam. "You are only making things harder for yourself, Marine. Surely you must have realized by now that you do not stand a chance?" She said as the three coffins on the ground began to float up towards her while the two remaining that had previously been hitting Samantha began to encircle their area. "Surrender peacefully, and I swear I will bring you to your base alive and in one piece."
Seeing Lilith follow, Sam smiled. “My, my, you really let yourself go. Don’t tell me a simple bunny is making you try harder. A transformation like that means you’re taking this fight much more seriously. But if you’re tired and need a way out, that’s fine; I mean, I would be too if I were throwing boxes everywhere.”
She responded before her body bent to avoid the coffins flying at her. Then, she rushed back to Lilith, spinning rapidly with fire on her feet, and kicked a gust of foaming wind aimed at Lilith’s face, hoping to make her duck so she could get below and deliver a spring-loaded uppercut. “So, what do you have, an Undertaker Span? Do they have Zoans for just jobs?”
"Impudent brat." Lilith spat as she stood steady and still, the other coffins flying around in a blur of motion, going for their hit and run strikes. But she herself didn't move. She didn't duck or even move a coffin to absorb the hit. The fiery impact struck against her, washing over her body, licking at her skin and clothes before pushing away. As Samantha came into view again with her punch, Lilith made her move. Flicking with the blade, a coffin popped up to block her impact, to which the pirate made a stabbing motion towards Samantha's waist, hoping to end it swiftly now. "I'm quite done with you."
“ Don’t tell me your bones are getting tired.”As the uppercut landed on the coffin, her body went stiff like iron, the knife cut her side drawing blood popping open into a bush of blood-colored roses. After the bush grew between them, Sam’s hand turned black before igniting itself in flames, and she went for a straight punch aimed at Lilith’s face. “Sea Dragon’s Breath!” she declared as the fire-covered seastone gloves flew toward Lilith.
Lilith did not stop with that, but instead continued to press the dagger further in. Her aim was to make the wound so grievous and devastating that it would force the Commodore to surrender and give in to her demands. Alas, she would quickly realize that the blade no longer existed. All that she was holding now was a push that she had little use of anymore. Seeing the burning fist coming her way, she raised one hand that she used to coat in haki and deliver a counter punch to clash with. With the other hand, she would pull out a new haki-coated knife and raise it to cut the marine by the elbow. "My offer is still on the table for now." Lilith growled.
Clashing with the punch would cause Lilith to lose her Devil Fruit abilities and drain her energy giving Same the time she needed to turn her arm into a spring and catch the blade between the springs and compress them down to try and break the blade. Following this, Sam turned her legs black and ignited them, then surrounded them with electricity to kick Lilith in the waist, trying to knock the wind out of her. She then jumped to spin vertically and aimed a kick at Lilith’s arm, hoping the seastone would keep her depowered long enough to land the second hit. “So dose mine. But second option I make you a vivacard you fuck off and if I hear from you again im bringing you in.”
After the clash, Lilith pulled back her fist as soon as it had hit to interrupt the strike. The knife broke in the contortion of the spring leg, causing her a substantial amount of fury. Within the coffin she stood on did she put her pain. The kicks came, kicking her with such force that she needed to brace herself so she wouldn't fly away. As the second hit came, she tanked it too, and with both hits, it seemed as if she had suffered no injury.
In the wake of these moves, Samantha abandoned any attempt to avoid or block the incoming coffins that battered Samantha's body like a barrage of Cannonfire, threatening to break bones had she been any less of a woman. "I am so done with you." Lilith growled as she leapt up, sending the coffin she stood on below and grow in size as it opened the casket. With a Haki infused leg did she move to achieve a blitzing kick to Samantha's lower back, to send her hurtling into the oversized coffin. Should it close around her, the game was over for the marine.
Sam stayed in the air using Geppo, her ears hearing the coffins zoom through the air pair of coffins. She used Soru quickly dodge, not wanting to create any distance between herself and Lilith. Seeing Lilith jump in the air, she used Kenbunshoku to predict her movements. Sam covered her legs in Haki and Electro and did a split kick, turning her legs into springs. The springs were loose enough to allow Lilith’s inertia to force her to follow through, but also decompressed enough to absorb the shock of the kick.
At the same moment, Sam turned her arms into springs. “S50 C20,” she quickly said to herself as the springs on her arms grew thicker and bulked up like a bodybuilder’s muscles. Her hands turned black and ignited. “Kurenaiken:Sea Dragon’s Red Spiral,” she declared as her entire arm turned red. The punch moved in a flash, impacting with the force of a tank’s cannon and the speed of a pistol. Even if the punch didn’t land, the resulting clash of the springs would cause an explosion of fire between the two fighters.
The power of the three spring's impact with her own kick caused a full frontal confrontation. The damage was buried in the pain coffin, but the blast of the flaming explosion caused a shockwave that sent Lilith flying backward, having no footing to resist the pressure. Flying uncontrollably through the air, the pain coffin rose to her side, allowing her a platform to stand on. It was brimming with power and close to the brink, the crosses of gold and silver gleaming intensely.
"Graveyard Maneuver! Crucible of the Beyond!" Lilith cried out as all the coffins she had conjured so far, save for the one she stood on, soared up high above her. And from her body flew brand new coffins en masse. Hundreds of coffins cluttering the sky until the sun was nearly blotted out. "Let the dirt take you!" She shouted as with a wave of the hand, each coffin became as a big as a carriage before plummeting full force towards Samantha. But in the instance that she managed to avoid all of them: The ground and the town was after all right beneath them. Civilians fled from the town as quickly as they could when they beheld what was coming.
Seeing the coffins drop, Sam turned her legs into springs to increase her speed, leaving a shock wave at her feet. Her eyes went red to see the souls of those in the town before causing a massive shock wave. “C70,” she said to herself as she rushed down, stretching her arms with springs rapidly to grab more people. Grabbing as many as she could, she commanded the rest of the townsfolk, “If you can move, you can save everyone else!”
She let those she held go free when it was safe. “Go to the sea!” she instructed. Her feet caught on fire as her springs turned red, sending a massive spiral of flaming gusts of wind. “IRIS!” she shouted as the spiral rose up and wrapped around whatever it touched like a tentacle cutting and burning the target, in this case, the target was the coffins that, once wrapped around, would be pushed into each other and away from the part of town she wanted to keep safe in order to minimize casualties.
The fiery winds pushed, burned, and cut against the coffins as they descended. The caskets clumped together and slowed in their descent. But as it was not a sustained ability to keep it up, all Lilith would have to do to keep them on trajectory was to simply continue controlling them like she already was. But the bombardment came to a halt as the wind had in part accomplished one of its goals: Stop the coffin artillery. But that didn't stop her. She simply grinned she performed her next move.
"Graveyard Maneuver! Desecrate!" Lilith shouted, causing half of the coffins to shatter into hundreds of shrapnel pieces per coffin, all of those pieces aimed straight for Sam like a rapid stream of thousands of bullets. And with those coffins gone, the unrestrained half continued their bombardment across the town, hitting the buildings like cannonballs and the people who were struck by the coffins, their screams of terror and surprise could be heard before their sounds were snuffed out entirely. With this maneuver fulfilled, a bit less than two hundred children had been eradicated from the surface of the world for all intents and purposes, and all that was left was craters in the ground with coffins in the center to remember this moment by. "GET ON MY LEVEL, SCRUB!"
Sam was hit was hit by some of the shrapnel to try and protect the people behind her before she jumped onto her hands and started spinning around like she was breakdancing, quickly increasing her speed. She turned her legs into springs, gathering more wind as she pulled in as much shrapnel as possible, covering her body in Haki. The vortex formed, grabbing the shrapnel from the air before it could harm anyone else.
Soon, the vortex ignited and shrank down, compressing until it settled on her leg, transforming into a massive blade of fire, wind, and shrapnel. “DESTRUCTION DRAGON’S HORN! I WILL SAVE THESE PEOPLE IN THEIR HEAVENLY HARE!” she declared as she sent the blade flying toward Lilith at extreme speed. Ahead of the blade, shrapnel was propelled forward, and Sam focused to predicting Lilith’s movements to avoid the debris, aiming the massive slash with precision. Even if she missed, the shrapnel would continue to rain down as the blade cleaved through the island.
With the coffin she stood on, Lilith beheld the move coming her way and she felt a mixture between awe and shock. As the fiery blade flew her way, Lilith did the one thing she could do to sustain herself and minimize her own injuries. Manifesting her full Zoan form, a state where by this point she looked more like a glorified corpse than a living woman, along with focusing her Observation Haki, she got to work. Holding up her pain coffin in front of her in just the right angle, the blade came and struck the coffin, cutting it open and shattering the rest into pieces shortly after.
Shattered or not. Turned against her or not, the coffin pieces were still her domain. With a twitch of the hand, the shrapnel pieces disappeared from the equation by simply not existing anymore. However, holding up her arms and knees to protect herself from the burning wind cut, the blade made contact and threw her hundreds of yards away while partially digging into her body. As the blade finally cut on and left her behind, the landscape was cut open like a hot knife through butter. Getting up, Lilith began to rise up and prepare herself for the next move. She could feel how the blade had sliced into her skin and flesh, and the pain was intense. However...
The cultivated and immense damage levels absorbed by the coffin prior had been unleashed, forced onto Sam. Pain and injuries came upon the woman. Bruises, aching muscles and bones, cuts, and terrible pain all at once. Lilith landed on the ground, not letting her arms be put through any pressure by using them as dampeners for her landing. More powerful than ever, she created three coffins next to her and made the hundreds of coffins already created zoom to her side. "I'm impressed! Really took the wind out of me. What else can you do?" She asked as there was over two-hundred of coffins behind her, ready to be used. Two coffins had an off black coloration with a hint of green to them while the third was its typical black. "Let's get to it, Hare!"
Sam's ear twitched as she heard the coffin brake, her entire body going stuff like iron to lessen the recoil damage she would receive. Falling forward, she looked at the woman and laughed while coughing up blood. “Well, ya see, I was thinking that you were in over your head,” she said, slowly walking around to ensure her back was not facing the people she had rescued from the island forcing her self to move with just will power , "I mean your a zoan you guys have incredical endurance and yet here I am keeping up must just be an undertaker human zoan." She mocked
Getting into a stance for a track racer, her legs began running in place, slowly getting faster and faster, a smile spreading across her face as her little tail wagged, her jacket in tatters unable to hide her excitement. “LET'S FUCKING GO THEN! ACT 3! YOU BROUGHT THE BOXES, I'LL FILL IT WITH YOUR BODY!” she shouted with a laugh before rushing forward, a massive crater left in her wake from where she took off.
Her calves and thighs transformed into thick springs, providing her with enhanced power and speed. Her eyes turned red as she focused on the coffins and Lilith, jumping onto the trees and coating them in haki to support the force of her jumps. With each leap, she disapered left cracks in the bark before landing in front of a black flaming electric kick aimed at her side, hoping to knock her into one of the coffins. She aimed to be the center of attention, standing between Lilith and the coffins. ‘Focus on me, not the civilians, is all I ask,’ she thought to herself.
Her eyes turning a blazing red as Lilith paid attention to the things around her. Fully manifested in power, surrounded by hundreds of coffins, she felt more confident than ever. "I will rule the seas one day. I'll let you be the stepping stone to my success!" Said Lilith before in one swift motion spinning on the spot, letting Sam miss her completely. "You must understand this someday," She growled as she grabbed hold of Sam's ankle before swinging her over her head nad aimed to throw her immediately into the air before ten coffins shattered into thousands of pieces before bombarding her like rapid fire rifles. "I AM THE SUPREME ABOVE ALL!"
LIlith then leapt up onto one of her other coffins, charging ahead on top of it to ram it into Samantha straight on. "Drop and beg before the hallowed one!"
After being thrown, Sam's red eyes focused on the shards as time seemed to slow down. She ignited her right leg and used her left leg to stomp on the air, performing a last-second backflip that sent a gust of flaming, cutting wind into the shards above. Compressing her right arm as tightly as she could, she launched it forward with the force of a rifle round. Her blackened fist formed an invisible barrier over her hand, aimed directly at Lilith's chest in an attempt to knock her off the flying coffin or at least stun her enough to be hit by her own attack.
The burning air sliced upon the near thousands of shards and struck a selection of them out of trajectory. However, that still meant hundreds of pieces coming darting to her with immense speed and power. Power which could put an end to the poor marine within short if not dealt with. Meanwhile, as Sam's fist came towards Lilith, she angled her stance and coffin a bit as to keep her from being knocked away. The fist collided squarely in her chest and the crosses on her coffins glowed somewhat brighter. And she stood unharmed and immovable. As the fist had come towards her, Lilith aimed to grab the woman's throat and forearm, hoping to hold her in place as the shards rained upon her. "Overutilizing all this haki must be pretty draining on you, ain't it? How much longer can you keep this crap up?" Lilith taunted as the shards blitzed even faster, coming upon Sam's back and legs now in less than half a second, ready to bombard her like non-explosive artillery pieces.
Sam quickly transformed her arm into a spring, larger than Lilith's, and punched her palm, hoping to trick Lilith into grab the Seastone intending to collapse the spring around her arm. "You kidding? I practice every day to maintain my stamina so I can keep going for a long time and get stronger," she said, trying to prevent Lilith from controlling the coffins any longer so she could charge electricity through the springs and spin rapidly in the air, trying using Lilith as a shield against the incoming shards before letting her go.
Conjuring a coffin in her palm, she used it to stand between Lilith and the Seastone, blocking the impact and then swiping her hand aside as the smaller construct was knocked back, Lilith catching it in her mouth as it shrank to a bite-sized little thing, pushed to her cheek. Then with her other hand, giving up on her prior plan, she created another one and swept it behind Samantha, opening up which led to all the shards being sucked into the pitch-black structure before closing the lid. It clearly did not work as intended and she needed time to adapt. Meanwhile, Lilith chuckled. "Come on now, critter! Surely you have more to offer than just spins and flips!?" Lilith taunted as she backed off slightly, hoping that Samantha would come to her again. "Tell you what! Beat me in five minutes and I'll release my prisoners. Sound fair? Sounds fair. Come on!" She shouted, gesturing to the hundreds of coffins still in the air.
Rescue Road[]
Down upon the ground level of it all, away from all the Grimm and grittiness of the action overtaken by the battle between the Undertaker and Jade Rabbit, was another scene. On the surface of the island, along the beach side, sprawled a river of people. Men, women children. Both old, young, and disabled crowded the sandy shores of the once peaceful island of Radaghast. Whispers of fear spread amongst the masses. The fear of their home being raided and pillaged. Their lives were overturned, never to be the same again from this point onwards.
Though they were lucky. From the chaos came a call, and before them came marine evacuation ships. Each one was mighty in size, enough to hold a good thousand of them in toe. Out from each came the sprawling manpower of the united force of heroes. Each one came strong, showing nothing but the luster of those dubbed these people protectors.
Nerves were calmed by their presence but would soon subside at the opening of the next ship for entry. Upon the seal being undone, people started to rush in. The Marines moved ahead to organize entry, but the people were less than calm to follow along with such simple protocols. Everyone ran, some stumbled, and others fell due to the crowded nature of it all. In one such moment, a child fell to the floor. Cries escaped them but none showed sympathy to their plight out of risk they might not make it in. Legs would soon trample them to death…only for a shadow to block out such a scene.
The shadow, No not a shadow. That thing's existence could never be a shadow. No instead of being something so vile and void, instead their existence resembled more off to a radiant light. Pushing off the arm, the eye glared at the person. Stumbling back, a panicked face struck them hard, and almost like a signal, all stopped what they were doing. Raising a hand extended out towards the child, helping them up with them and aiding the fragile being back to their feet. Gazing across the river of flesh a cough escaped them.
“EVERYONE, CALM DOWN!” Their voice boomed across the ravine, into the ears of all, catching everyone's attention with just three words. “Listen, I understand your fear, but this is not the time to panic. Things are hard and times are going to be harder, but you are all not alone. For it is we have come to protect you all from the danger that seeks to harm you. We, the protectors of the world have made a solum vow to never allow any evil to lay harm upon a single living soul. So I pledge upon that vow to not leave a single one of you behind. So please, I besiege all of you to remain calm as we aid you all.” Speaking to the people her lustrous voice reached them all. Her words were calm but determined. Honest but comforting. She spoke not to the people but to their very souls with which they drew from. And in that speech, all went calm.
Reassured by the words of the commanding officer, they began to mobilize in the way they were supposed to have been. Calm and orderly as though this was the default. After all, the Changing Star Danica, had changed their minds.
Nodding to this, Danica helped the child over to their parents then soon motioned off to the side to watch the display.
“Good work, Commodore.” Commenting off to her side a voice broke out.
Turning to face the voice came the sight of someone familiar. Almost similar to the Commodore, all but in gender was, not only her subordinate in arms but that of her own flesh and blood brought into the world by her. Lucian. “Commodore?” Questioning, the woman's head twisted unnaturally fast. Before the lad even had a chance, arms wrapped around him, pulling them into a noogie. “How many times do I have to tell you, son? It’s mom even on duty.” Danica commented as her fist brushed against his hair playfully.
“Alright! Alright, mom! Please stop!” He commented in agony of his monster's fist before being released away from her grasp. “Argh! Just wanted to report things are moving on schedule, and we should be done within the hour.”
“Hmph. That’s good to hear. “Smiling at the news, Danica folded her arms together before leaning against a post. She was happy. Happy that all was moving smoothly under her watchful eyes. But also worried. Worried for the people under her care and the battle being wagged by two opposing forces of good and evil. Even then, she did not let her emotions show it, to not burden the hearts of her men with her worry.
With the worry that may be inside, the universe sometimes decided to make your day miserable, even if you did not say it out loud. This was proven as a marine rushed in panic towards the duo.
“Commodore! Commodore!” Screaming out the young marine nearly fell over his own feet, carrying in panic a transporter snail, which was ringing.
“Ermergency call! From the close marine base!"
“Mom?” Lucian questioned in alarm, staring a his leader only to be met with a gentle hand over the head.
Stronking the head of her son, Danica seemed to ease the situation with her actions. Moving away she then made it to frantic marine. “Reporting in. Give me a status on the situation.”
The sound of an explosion was heard in the background, as the screaming of marines were heard, inaudible, what exactly was ordered.
“Here is Commander Sigfried! We are getting attacked! As Commodore Artemis left to stop the Undertaker, another ship appeared, which was hidden in the stone structures! We could confirm it's the Impaler Pirates, with Blood Stinger, Hammurabi!”
Another explosion was heard with screams followed by it.
“We can’t keep them at bay any longer! We request immediate back-AWWWWR!”
Only for the call with a scream to abruptly end.
“Another pirate showing up here and now of all time!” Hearing the drastic news delivered shaken, Lucian's tone turned rampantly spiked in to make the heavy weight of it all.
It was already bad enough, as if with their mission to pull out civilians from the conflict zone. If it wasn’t for his mother dealing with what came before a stampede of disarray would have occurred. They were lucky. It would have gone smoothly but it seemed luck wasn’t long-lasting in the way of opportunists seeking to make a buck off others suffering.
Grasping his sword, Lucian readied himself to take care of the pirate's need to be alone if he had to stop any further disturbance of peace. But before anything a worm hand rested upon his shoulder, stopping any momentum from building up. Facing this hand, what was met was no other than his mother. “Mom?”
“Son stay with the ship and men. Organize the evacuation whilst I go deal with the pirates.”
“Mom wait. I’ll go. You more needed here tha…”
“Lucian!” Holding her son's words before he could even dare to finish his statement, Danica spoke with nothing but utter authority silencing any other than her. After the silence had come, immediately a worm tough pressed against the child's head and stroked his golden main. “Son. I trust you. As much as I’m the commanding officer, I trust in your skill to look over everything whilst I’m gone and make sure nothing further happens to these people. I know you can do it.” Reassuring her son, the Commodore made her faith known to his skill in leading in her absence.
Taking these words in, the young lad shivered at the declaration of his mother's views. After a few seconds of consideration, his fist clenched as he looked up at her. “I’ll do my best mother.”
Smiling to this, Danica all but nodded reassured. “Good boy.” Pulling away from the moment with her dear child. She was already on the move in the twinkle of a star, flashing out of sight to meet these pirates head-on.
With the roars of pirates, the marines come desperate in their defending lines, as another spear got thrown impaling another marine who gurgled blood out as his body twitched the last life signs.
“Get them all! Spike them all! And then loot the palace dry!”
The monster behind the blood crazy pirates screamed out. A tall, bald and muscular man, who screamed out, as one of his fists literally digged through a marine soldier, with his bloody fist coming out of the back. With his scream, the pirates laughed madly, as one of them broke their line, his tongue sticking out.
“I will turn you into kebap!”
The pirate screamed out, as he raised the spear about to impale the marine lying terrified in front of him.
The spear thrust outwards, lurching forth through empty space of air towards a hearty mound of flesh, a light flashed by. Flashing through with laser radiance, the spear the sliced in twin by the shot fired. But the shots didn’t end there. More radiant bullets were fired off at a blinding speed. Wissing along the air, each hit their mark with pinpoint accuracy. Each, splintering and singing the spears to ruin, destroying them all.
From the origin to which all the shots were fired, there stood their source. Hand outstretched and fixed into a finger pistol form, Danica stood in all her authority arousing her entrance to the field.
All soldier presence grew at attention upon the sighting of the Commodore. Their maral which had all been almost dragged into the depths of the abyss grew almost instantly reguvined. Motivation strode high reaching all new levels as they starred at the Pirates with greater intensity which made some stumble back.
Walking in stride, Danica's graceful eyes wandered over the interlopers. Stunning each of them with a look less born from hatred and disgust but almost entirely born out of pity at seeing the cruel acts they dared to perform. All in due time, they finally arrived up to the seeming leader of this posse of impaler mad men. “You must be the voice they listen to? This is Marine Commodore Danica. A formal warning: lay down your arms and surrender or else face the consequences.”
With the pirates freezing at the appearance of the commodore, it was only replaced by laughter, as the big man came closer, his crewmates quickly made way for his massive figure to pass. Some marines bleached as they saw the corpse of a soldier still stuck through his arm, like he was a bracelet.
“Yes I am! And a mere commander? Are the marines out of personal life after the war?! Gugugugu!” Laughing loudly the figure was revealed as none other than Hammurabi, with a bounty of 
300.000.000. Without answering her question he pulled the corpse of the marine from his arm, before throwing it at Danica.
Tossed to the wayside, arms soon outstretched to catch the crumbling body. Impacting her frame, Danica did not budge under its weight. No, instead she held onto the body tight. Slowly she positioned it, holding the deceased in her arms almost akin to a child being rocked with her grasp.
Looking at them, the bloody form of a once brave warrior, a hole wide and visibly marking their chest, she simply stared. Her eyes all but focused on them and them alone, excluding the presence of the pirates, she treated the body no less than a treasure to be cared for, memorizing all their features. It was only after a few minutes that did motion returned. Turning her back upon the pirate she moved over to her men and there she handed the body over to them for retrieval.
Her fist tightened forming a ball before facing Hammurabi with a more vibrant glare in her eyes. “This is your final chance. Surrender now and no harm befall you. Refuse and suffer what is to come.” She repeated warning the pirates one more time of the risk that would befall them if not followed right but alongside that warning her tone grew more heavy with aurithy, crushing down upon the souls of all those weak will to sustain it.
With the statement said and an authority sent which sent the weak willed pirates shivering through their spine, there was a lot of hesitation and one of them even dropped his spear, before taking a few steps back.
“Ahhh?” Only to freeze as the voice of his captain came out holding nothing more than surprise and hidden sarcasm. Turning around he shivered at the sight of his captain, who started to wear metallic brass knuckles, grinning at all the grunts in front of him.
“It's alright to be afraid, after all this lady is somehow scary, ehh? Well you can run and then I later remind you all why you are afraid of me.” With a bloodthirsty grin the grunts all started to shiver, before slowly turning back towards the marine, spear ready.
“Good boys. Now turn her into cheese!”
The captain screamed, before the pirates let out a roar, starting to rush at Danica, spears ready to try and impale her.
Releasing a tired sight, Danica showed a face of both pity and coldness towards the criminals that ran up to her. She wished they had heard her words. Taken the deal she offered and simply accepted whatever judgment for their list of crimes committed under the flag of evil criminals. No. It would go that way.
There were rarely any who’d willingly accept such a deal if offered up to them so what was she to expect? Though it would be a lie to say she didn’t have hope for this one’s here it seems she needed to squash such hope if she ever planned on living another day by ending this quickly. After all, she took no pleasure in what she needed to do next.
Battle cries roared through the air of the empty streets. Marines stood in a mixture of focus with tints of fear in their eye. Ahead charged a blockade spearman lunging for the kill. Spears sharp and eyes flashing with a murderous glee that thirst for the souls of those caught pierced through their poles. Soldiers' legs shot, but there was no point in fear. After all, they stood behind a shining star.
Raising up her hand forward, all ten fingers pointed straight in the direction of their attackers. Soon, each tip flashed a vibrant sparkly. Light danced over the edges of the tips, charging up their radiant light and what was born from them.
SHOOTING STAR
Firing from their barrels came birth stars. Siring into existence at a thought, ten blazed commits tore through the air cutting out a path for themselves. Moving brilliantly, they elegantly moved upon a straight path. Narrowly moving out of line and not daring to disobey their creator's wishes for them. And that wish was for their use in justice. Still charging in the pirates would come blinded by the flash of light., without even seeing what next, the rods in their hands grew hot and then that head transferred to their chest with great force. It was like gravity but instead of up or down, it was back. Punched into the gut by a star, the spear men were rocked into the air. Some fly the flow, a few landing on crates that splinter under their fall, and others breaking through or embedding themselves into concrete to become no less than an ornament to the island's decorum.
Their spears clambered to the floor. Metal meeting stone to create a symphony. At their tip, their sharp edges grew blunt, as sheer steam trailed off.
Raising her fingers up to her lips she blows smoke off them in a cowboy fashion. Bringing them to her hip she walked. Walking past the bodies of her attackers, walking past the light destruction she left behind, and entering the battlefield. She was now in better view of the main source of this last-ditch chaos and the one to bring her here.
“Do you still wish to continue?”
It was silent for a bit as the rest of the pirates started to get terrified at the display of their fallen comrades and the power of the marine. It was silent for a bit as the marines, who were cheering, were silent by a single sound, which made them shut up very quickly.
“GUGUGUGU! GUGUGUGU!” The laughter of the monster immediately silenced them, with the massive pirate taking a few steps closer and putting two brass knuckles on, shining in the light of the sun, with a strange huge necklace around his neck.
“Guess not so much canon fodder, huh? Well make it finally fun.” The big man's smile even widened more, before he closed the distance fast between them, as he raised his massive fist to deliver an uppercut into the marines' guts, making the other marine yelp in surprise as for them the big man crossed the distance in a blink of an eye, now being way closer to this monster.
Standing there in a momentary stillness, Danica’s face seemed unchanged despite the entrance of a new challenger. Even after the sudden flash burst of speed, her stance didn't change much if ever but if one looked closer the pupils of her eyes shifted downwards, right at the spot the vanishing captain had made their reappearance prevalent.
In what was to follow a fist was thrown. Its metal piece glinted in readiness for some action and blood. It rained while meeting up with their owners. But what met it wasn’t the soft squashable texture of a stomach. Instead, it was the hard surface of a heel.
Stomping her foot down upon the criminal's fists, the action was met with resistance. Force was applied to her block, preventing the strength of the man from coming full circle. On her face, Danica looked at him with a smile. “I must say your speed is quite impressive. Though in comparison to my subordinate, it feels quite lacking.” Giving a slight compliment to the captain, she also took the moment to praise that of her progeny in comparison to them. If they thought to outspeed a star then they would find themselves falling short.
Though in that vein Danica was far from being willing to let the opportunity before her slip her hand. Before even the soldier behind her knew it their commander's fist vanished to find itself shooting into the pirate captain's chin. Ready to send this fallen star back up to meet its cousins twinkling in the sky.